Georgia Tech is a long way from '91 bowl win

ORLANDO, Fla. - Georgia Tech followers fondly remember the last time their favorite football team played in Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium.

The Yellow Jackets defeated Nebraska, 45-21, on Jan. 1, 1991. The victory capped an undefeated season and gave them a share of the school's first national title in nearly a half-century.

Georgia Tech returns to the site of that triumph tonight, taking on Syracuse in the Champs Sports Bowl.

This time, though, the stakes are different, and the Yellow Jackets have resisted the urge to get nostalgic.

They haven't talked about the 1991 game, and head coach Chan Gailey said he won't bring it up in any pregame pep talks.

"We're a long way from a national championship," wide receiver Nate Curry said.

The national championship team wasn't the bowl juggernaut the 2004 team is, though. Georgia Tech's berth in the Citrus Bowl after the 1990 season was its first in five seasons, while the current Yellow Jacket players have never missed playing in a bowl. Georgia Tech's program is making a school-record eighth consecutive bowl appearance.

"We seniors didn't want to be the ones to snap that streak," safety James Butler said.

The streak continues, and Butler and his teammates have another goal: to better the best bowl winning percentage in the nation. Georgia Tech is 21-11 in bowl games, which computes to a .656 winning percentage.

Should the Yellow Jackets lose to Syracuse and Southern California defeats Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl in two weeks, Southern California would pass the Georgia Tech for best bowl winning percentage.

"We have a proud bowl tradition at Tech that we look forward to maintaining every year," center Andy Tidwell-Neal said. "We're still playing a game, though, and that's our focus."

Numbers and historical perspectives aside, Georgia Tech needs a bowl victory to validate a frustrating season. The Yellow Jackets exceeded pundits' expectations by finishing tied for sixth in the Atlantic Coast Conference but fell short of their own hopes, hampered by injuries and inconsistency.

A bowl victory would salve the sting, though, and give the Yellow Jackets something to build on going into next season.

"Any time you go into a season off a win is good," Curry said. "The last game is always the one you remember."

Reach Adam Van Brimmer at 404-589-8425 or adam.vanbrimmer@morris.com.